Kyunghyong "If the Labor Union Act is amended, labor-management relations will collapse and the national economy will break down"

Emergency Meeting of Full-time Vice Presidents from Six Major Economic Organizations Including Kyeongchoong

The full-time vice presidents of the six major economic organizations held an emergency meeting on the 16th at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to devise countermeasures for the proposed amendment to the Labor Union Act and took a commemorative photo. From the left: Lee Ho-jun, full-time vice president of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises; Lee In-ho, full-time vice president of the Korea International Trade Association; Lee Dong-geun, full-time vice president of the Korea Employers Federation; Park Il-jun, full-time vice president of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Kim Chang-beom, full-time vice president of the Korea Economic Association; and Jung Yoon-mo, full-time vice president of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business. (Photo by Korea Employers Federation)

As the Democratic Party of Korea adopted the amendment to the Labor Union Act as its party stance and pushed for the bill's passage, six major economic organizations, including the Korea Employers Federation, voiced unified opposition. They stated that the bill is a politically motivated measure that would destroy labor-management relations and the national economy.

The six economic organizations?the Korea Employers Federation, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Korea International Trade Association, the Korea Business Association, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, and the Korea Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises?held an emergency meeting on the morning of the 16th at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seocho-gu, Seoul, to devise countermeasures against the opposition party's push to amend the Labor Union Act.

The vice presidents of the six economic organizations expressed strong opposition to the Democratic Party of Korea's decision at the previous day's party meeting to adopt the amendment to the Labor Union Act as the party's official stance and to forcibly proceed with the bill's passage, saying, "This is a politically motivated decision that is destroying labor-management relations and collapsing the national economy."

They expressed concern that "if the scope of employers is indiscriminately expanded, subcontractor unions will continuously demand collective bargaining and engage in industrial actions against primary contractors, leading to the collapse of the industrial ecosystem between primary and subcontractors, and workers at partner companies will lose their jobs."

The proposed amendment expands the scope of employers to include those who hold the status of labor relations counterparties to workers or unions. The amendments, respectively introduced by Democratic Party lawmakers Park Hae-cheol and Kim Tae-seon, allow in-house subcontractors to regard primary contractors as employers.

Meanwhile, the six economic organizations also decided to oppose the amendment to the "Freight Motor Vehicle Transport Business Act," which mandates the safety freight rate system, citing concerns over increased logistics costs for export-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises.

Lee Dong-geun, the full-time vice president of the Korea Employers Federation, stated, "Currently, the vast majority of damages related to illegal industrial actions stem from the violent practice of workplace occupation. Nevertheless, the amendment contains no provisions to improve this and instead effectively blocks claims for damages related to illegal industrial actions, thereby encouraging extreme illegal industrial actions."